1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method of allowing travelers 150 who are traveling with a group such as an international organization, including but not limited to international volunteers with charitable organizations and international travelers 150 associated with a commercial traveling group, to combine group and individual travel insurance.
2. Description of Related Art
Today's group travel sponsoring organizations and individual travelers 150 are more concerned than ever about personal safety and security. Not only is physical safety more in question when traveling than it has ever been, the safety and proper delivery of a traveler's items is also less reliable than it has been in the past. Travelers 150 can need help in getting out of situations such as natural disasters or political unrest, and travelers 150 may want their insurance to link together travel programs and personal voyages. With these increasing demands for personal security and security of the traveler's belongings, traveler's insurance, especially for international travel, is now virtually required for each traveler to carry.
Persons traveling as volunteers for nonprofit or government-funded organizations may not have any life or accident insurance whatsoever, or the insurance they have in their home country may not respond well to incidents that occur outside of their home country. The volunteer may be a recent graduate from a high school, college or university, a member of a religion-based volunteer group, a member of a volunteer medical team, a corporate executive, or any other person who travels for volunteer purposes. Insureds may also be travelers 150 on educational or travel programs that do not include volunteering. The organization may be for-profit or non-profit. These travelers 150 don't usually buy travel insurance on their own, but generally rely on the travel organization to provide insurance for them.
If a traveler travels with an established group, such as a tour group, travel insurance is provided, with very favorable terms, in the cost of the tour. That level of travel insurance is generally not determined by the individual traveler. The benefit levels and terms for travel insurance are set for groups, and individuals have not been able to customize the limits or kinds of insurances they want. In general, travel insurance for individuals is not used by most travel groups because it does not provide enough benefits for risk management and cost; the organizations commonly use group coverage for volunteers and participants.
Upgrade 195 options have not been available to people insured under a group travel program in the way that they are available to individual travelers 150 who purchase individual travel insurance.